Business
What I love most about having a podcast is the chance to dive into deeper conversations about things that intrigue me and will serve you. This week’s interview aligns perfectly with that. Why did you invite this guy to be a guest? Sam Qurashi and I met in the Heroic Public Speaking Graduate School program last spring. His soothing presence and amazing voice caught my attention immediately. But more important the way he carried himself and his helpful manner of engaging made me immediately realize that he had a lot of value to deliver to my audience. That became even more clear when I learned that he had done something few of us do — he started building his audience before he defined and started his business. The result: He is approaching 300,000 followers on Instagram as he prepares to launch his new business next month. That’s why I invited him to join me for a conversation and share some insight into how he did it and some advice on what we can do to be more effective in serving people using Instagram. Before I share a bit about our conversation, let me introduce you to Sam. Who is this guy? Sam Qurashi worked as a Psychiatric Resident in an addiction Hospital for about seven years, and throughout that time, he had the opportunity to interact with over 10,000 patients. However, for a plethora of reasons, he decided to walk away from his medical career. One of the main reasons for doing so was that he had a strong belief that there was a more effective way to help people. As a result, his journey into the world of, what he calls, unorthodox psychology began, and he started interviewing experts that are living beyond the frame of Psychology but are masters of the mind in a unique way. That led him to people like… The top cold reader in the world who can convince anyone that he's psychic even though he isn't, The top pickpocket in the UK who can elegantly step into anyone's comfort zone because of his mastery of space and attention, The horse whisperer who can communicate with horses through eye contact and body language, and many, many, more. He then entered the world of social media to share his message on Instagram, a platform of which he had no idea about. But after analyzing and deconstructing that platform while utilizing his knowledge of human behavior, he was able to quickly grow his page from 300 followers to over 200,000 followers in less than 13 months. He was recently interviewed by Joe Polish who’s the founder of Genius Network, the largest marketing mastermind group in the world. What’s in the Interview? My conversation with Sam covered a range of topics, with insights into how to be effective with Instagram at the core — that part of the interview is one that I recommend listening to several times while taking notes and mapping your own strategy. It will be worth it. Here are a few of the insights Sam shared: Commit to your message — nothing in more important that keeping your posts focused around the message you are seeking to share with people. Don’t Rely on Recycling the Same Content — people who follow you want to see more from you, not the same old stuff, and if they don’t, they will stop following you. Be Consistent — People love patterns and the secret to getting them engaged with you is to make it clear that you deliver new stuff consistently. It doesn’t have to be every day, but a pattern that is clear from your bio page will connect better than random sporadic posts. Use Stories — Share the story of you and who you are in your Instagram stories. Share what you do in your posts. Promote the Page, Not the Product — Your goal should be growing your base of followers so they know what you are about and who you are before you start promoting things to them. As always, we closed our conversation with a book recommendation and Sam shared one of my favorites: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. I love the insight Sam shared from the book about seeking a ‘No’ instead of a ‘Yes’ when negotiating. His insight into why this is powerful was a highlight of the conversation. You can learn more about Sam by following him on Instagram @Samqurashi — you’ll love the content he shares and so much more. Thanks for joining me Sam. Your Turn — Got a Question? One of my favorite questions to ask is “How can I help you?” and one of my favorite ways to do that is by answering our questions. If you have one you would like me to address on the podcast, please send it to: info@michaelhudson.com and put “Question for Podcast” in the subject line then insert your question in the body.